Anderson included as England bowl in second India Test

India will be without pace-bowling all-rounder Shardul Thakur because of a thigh injury.

LONDON (AFP) - England pace great James Anderson was thrust straight into the action after being passed fit to play in the second Test against India at Lord’s on Thursday when home captain Joe Root won the toss and elected to field.

Yet just as Anderson was preparing to bowl the first ball, rain -- which had delayed the toss -- saw the umpires take the players off the field.

Stuart Broad, Anderson’s longtime new-ball partner, had already been ruled out of the remainder of the five-match series after pulling up with a calf problem in training.

The 39-year-old Anderson, who suffered a thigh injury on Wednesday, warmed up on the outfield on Thursday before rain briefly delayed the toss.

England will hope to avoid a repeat of the 2019 Ashes opener at Edgbaston where Anderson, nursing a niggling injury, broke down on the first morning to leave the attack a bowler light -- no substitute fielder in a Test is allowed to bowl in those circumstances.

Anderson’s 621 Test wickets are an England record, with Broad’s 524 wickets leaving him second in the national standings.

England made three changes to the side that drew the rain-marred first Test at Trent Bridge last week.

Fast bowler Mark Wood replaced Broad, with batsman Haseeb Hameed recalled for his first Test in five years in place of the struggling Zak Crawley, averaging just 11 in Tests this year.

Having opted against playing a specialist slow bowler in Nottingham, England recalled off-spinning all-rounder Moeen Ali after dropping batsman Dan Lawrence.

Root was the only England batsman to make a fifty at Trent Bridge thanks to scores of 64 and 109.

India replaced injured pace-bowling all-rounder Shardul Thakur because of with experienced quick Ishant Sharma in the only change to their XI.

By deciding against recalling off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin, India stuck with what captain Virat Kohli had called the “template” of four seamers and spinner Ravindra Jadeja that served them well in Nottingham.

 

Teams

England: Rory Burns, Dom Sibley, Haseeb Hameed, Joe Root (capt), Jonny Bairstow, Jos Buttler (wkt), Moeen Ali, Sam Curran, Ollie Robinson, Mark Wood, James Anderson

India: Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul, Cheteshwar Pujuara, Virat Kohli (capt), Ajinkya Rahane, Rishabh Pant (wkt), Ravindra Jadeja, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami, Ishant Sharma, Mohammed Siraj

 

Umpires: Michael Gough (ENG), Richard Illingworth (ENG)

TV umpire: Richard Kettleborough (ENG)

Match referee: Chris Broad (ENG)